[Nexus] Inside 44

[Mindfreak]

Dave's Free Clinic
"I do it because it's my burden, Wes. I don't like it, but I keep it this way because this way I pay for what I've done and I can also prevent things...like the whole scale of good and evil being thrown out of whack."
He sighed again, turning away from her.
"Now if you excuse me, I have a little boy that I need to make sure wakes up without being in pain."
And with that he tries to walk away. He was a doctor, firstmost, ninja secondmost, and King of Hell lastmost.

[LadyOfWar]

[The Chase from Limit Street]

[Shadowside]

Assuming that Winguardia is at the rendezvous point, Mayhala and Ryhan are likely there as well. Though not in the normal world, at least in the case of the shadow mage.

If they are, Mayhala is watching the scene unfold from a vantage point on the roof of the Shadowside version of the house, the shadows inside the fence likely proving no impediment at all to her vision.

Winguardia is not at the rendezvous point, she is three houses down and two houses over from it.

However, as luck would have it, there is a big three story Victorian style house at the rendezvous point and from that house's steep rooftop Rhyan and Mayhalla, with their race/template specific night/shadow vision will be able to see what is going on in the small ranch-style house's fenced backyard.

A few pictures for reference: Style of the deck in the backyard. Note, the actual house in question is small, slightly shabby, and brown in color, and has outdoor steps leading up to the deck. This is just the only picture I could find with the ground cut away at the back of the house giving a walk-out basement with a deck above it, and that is what I wanted to show.

The fence and shed. The fence is higher and has the slats tighter together, also the shed is tucked behind the detached garage. This is just the best photo I could find in a short amount of time.

Spoilered to keep actions taken in the dark, in the dark

Spoiler

Show

Winguardia hurried up the steps to the deck at the back of the house when that angle was not visible to the cops chasing her. She is now ducked down where the homeowner's grill and the slats of the deck railing together hide her form. She's ready to spring over that railing onto anyone climbing the deck stairs or standing on the ground below.

((More posts are coming! I'm getting them put up as fast as I can. I think I've a few too many characters in this thread, 'cause you all keep ninja-ing me 0.0))

[EDIT: Here are the posts!]


[Granola Street]

[Granola Street]

A blue and black fox with a back covered in gnarled oak bark and fuzzy green moss. And not like a kitsune. Like a kumiho, their significant more malevolent Korean counterpart. Combined with a few other traits of the somewhat similar Scandinavian namesake huldra.

He's a regular grab-bag of folklore!

And he seems pretty uneasy, too.

"I... I'm sorry! I think I might have eaten some of your memories!" the Huldra says, sounding quite aghast at the very thought of that. "I would ask you if you can remember everything but I don't think that would do very much good."

Like asking the blind man if he likes his room's new paint job.

"I didn't mean too... I didn't know you were going to kiss me or I would have warned you sooner."

His tone suggests that he feels absolutely terrible. Like the tone someone usually takes after unintentionally hitting a bicyclist with their car.

((I can tell you EXACTLY the tone someone takes after accidentally hitting a bicyclist with their car, and it is more akin to panic than remorse. I know this because I was the cyclist and the driver of the SUV was more shaken up than I was.))

She still finds him fascinating and beautiful; the natural patterns of bark and moss coupled with blue and black fox-fur hold her attention.

"My memories?” Her eyelids half close and she looks truly thoughtful for the first time since he met this strange woman. Then she looks right back at him again. “They all seem to be there, but I wouldn’t know if they were gone. Most of them are anyway…. If you have them, can’t you see them and tell me which ones you have?” Her peppy tone is starting to come back.

“Stop looking so sad. Please? It was just a tiny little thank-you kiss.”

--------

[Dave’s Free Clinic]

Dave's Free Clinic
"I do it because it's my burden, Wes. I don't like it, but I keep it this way because this way I pay for what I've done and I can also prevent things...like the whole scale of good and evil being thrown out of whack."
He sighed again, turning away from her.
"Now if you excuse me, I have a little boy that I need to make sure wakes up without being in pain."
And with that he tries to walk away. He was a doctor, firstmost, ninja secondmost, and King of Hell lastmost.

She would not keep him from looking after a patient. Though she does wonder why he doesn’t just have his clone do it, and comes to the conclusion that he doesn’t want to talk to her anymore.

She decides to find a deserted hallway and walk up and down it a few times, thinking. She looks like an out of place guard pacing the hall in her smurf-colored scrubs.

[Rebonack]

[Granola Street]

Panicked AND remorseful.

We'll go with that.

"I can't see them," Freddy replies apologetically. "Or... at least if I can I don't know how to."

He probably needs more tails to do that sort of thing. Two tails is still kind of pathetic. More tails is always the solution!

At the request to stop looking sad Freddy does his best attempt at smiling. Ever see a dog smile before? Looks sort of like they're showing their teeth. But it always ends up looking quite a bit more silly.

"I... ah, I can try at least m'lady," he replies in a somewhat forced-upbeat tone. He then straightens up a little! "Introductions are in order, right? You can call me Fredrick. Or Freddy if you prefer. I'm... a rather reluctant Huldra. Unfortunately it was a curse I couldn't avoid."

[Lex-Kat]

Old Hospital on Arkham Street

An old delipadated hospital barely stands along the crowded street of Arkham. Long ago, it was a fairly good hospital, taking care of all who came through its doors.

But there was something dark and sinister going on down below.

This is where Vidalia leads Freddy, evidently from a different time period.

She stands outside of the boarded up hospital. Here it is. A regular ghost haven if I've ever heard of one. she says proudly.

[Rebonack]

[Arkham Street Hospital]

Oh boy plot clones!

Anywho! Wonder if this place is the dilapidated remains of the West Hospital. Closed down years ago when the place's head doctor was found to be practicing perverse experiments trying to reanimate human cadavers. That certainly sounds like the sort of thing that might result in ghosts!

Or it could be some other hospital! Who knows!

Fredrick approaches cautiously, his ears twitching around as he scans the surroundings, furtively dashing from one source of cover to another.

"There's another Huldra somewhere in the City," he whispers. "A Four-Tails. Much more powerful than me. I've been avoiding places with too many ghosts to try to steer clear of it. But... I don't think I have that luxury anymore."

[Ashen Lilies]

Nexus Zoo
"Sure there's other heroes with cool powers I could recruit, but most of them just wouldn't...fit with everyone else on the team. Some are too egotistical. Others do it for all the wrong reasons..."
She smiled.
"But you're different from them. And being made of stone is a pretty cool thing! I mean, where would the Fantastic Four be without The Thing?"

Zoo

"I'm with Gamma. I may fly, but this star has a layer of kevlar under it for a reason." Young Star points his thumb at the large blue five point star on his chest. "It's the same as the reason you started fighting muggers. Youre bulletproof, so you started fighting to protect people who aren't. Same reason I want you here."

Zoo

Krystal was surprised for a moment when Gamma Girl mentioned the Fantastic Four. How could somebody here know of heroes from her home dimension? Then she remembered the man she met at Trog's. The one who told her that her entire reality was simply a world of fiction to him. In the form of comics. Needless to say, that was kind of a shocker for her. She still has a hard time coming to terms with that.

Regardless, the surprise passes, and Krystal nods in agreement with the others. They're both right. Nobody can fill your shoes. You are unique. We need you, and we want you.

[Zoo]

"M'not actually bulletproof." He mutters. Still, at least some of the words might have penetrated his... uh... skull, because his face takes on an expression of weary resignation.
"Fine. But I still think you're making a mistake." He says.

[PokeCentre]

"My pokemon!" Man, this is frustrating. Becca points at Glamdring. He's right there! This woman is crazy.

[PokeCenter]

Caela's eyes focus on Glamdring. Gears turn in her head. Steams blows out of her ears.
"Oh! That's a strange looking pokemon! I've never seen one like that before!"
Captain Picards around the world facepalm simultaneously.

[Lex-Kat]

{Arkham Street Hospital}

Indeed it is. Must have moved somehow.

Vidalia rolls up into an onion and follows along. Oh. Um, is he the same color as you? Don't worry. I can fight pretty good.

[Rebonack]

[Arkham Street Hospital]

"He'll look a lot like me. But probably bigger. And with four tails instead of two," Freddy replies as he creeps toward the entrance of the hospital. "That's assuming he or she or whatever isn't using an illusionary shape. And since he's got more tails than I do I won't be able to see through his illusions, either. Unless..."

The demon-fox trails off before trotting over to the hospital's weed-choked front lawn and begins searching for... something.

After a few minutes! "Ah! Found some!"

He picks a small cluster of purple flowers and plops them down in front of the onion!

Wait, onion?

The Huldra does a double-take and tries his best not to let the Nexus weirdness get to him. "This is allheal. If you keep it with you it'll allow you to see through a Huldra's deceptions. It won't work for me, but at least one of us won't be clueless."

[Gullara]

[PokeCenter]

...

*twitchtwitch*

Becca opens and closes her mouth a couple times. She's not sure how to respond to this woman without blowing up. "Yeah, he's pretty cool." She says with barely restrained emotion.

"Okay, Glamdring. Let's get out of here." She turns toward the pokemon. But resist urge to say mean things.

[Mindfreak]

Dave's Free Clinic
Well...Dave's actually going because his doctor clone has gone off to file Dave's taxes.
Once Wes' lunch break is over, she might notice an extremely urgent message coming through her pager. It only gave the room number of that pokemon trainer.

[Zoo]

"M'not actually bulletproof." He mutters. Still, at least some of the words might have penetrated his... uh... skull, because his face takes on an expression of weary resignation.
"Fine. But I still think you're making a mistake." He says.

Nexus Zoo
"The bigger mistake would be not to ask you to join us."
And then, nodding at Lightning Lass' answer, she opens a portal to Justice Tower's training room.
"Last one in has to show off their abilities first!"
And then she jumped in.

[KerfuffleMach2]

Nexus Zoo

Krystal quickly goes to the portal, a grin on her face. She was excited by all of this. Joining a team of heroes had been a dream of hers for a long time, and now it was coming true. She'd be glad to show her powers first, if nobody else volunteered.

[Ashen Lilies]

[PokeCenter]

Bam. Something collides with Caela's mind.
"You named your Pokemon Glamdring? Oooh! I love Tolkein! You know, I write sometimes too."

[Zoo]

Mister Marble sighs, and steps reluctantly through the portal.

[OrchestraHc]

Zoo

"I'll make a believer out you yet," he singsongs as he enters the portal behind Marble.

[Eadin]

[Zoo]

Peter follows the rest of the crew through the portal.

[Rebonack]

[PokeCenter]

The Drageon has just been... watching the exchange. Listening to their crazy moon-language conversation. He's pretty sure he can understand bits and pieces of it, but there's still no real conception of what they're talking about.

Aside from his name of course.

He ran recognize his name. That's easy.

"SoH jatlh pIn, Becca," Glamdring replies as he begins trotting along behind his trainer.

But suddenly!

The guy in the red and black uniform throws a large sack over the top of the Pokemon and snatches him up!

"Ah hahahahaha!" the man cackles as Glamdring wriggles around inside the bag. "Team Rocket wins again!"

He then sprints toward the door!

[Gullara]

[PokeCenter]

"Er, I never really nam-" Becca starts to reply to Caela, but then Glamdring gets nabbed! Oh no you do not! Becca grabs a pokeball from her belt and lets it loose. "Get him, Phanish! Rollout!" The small elephant pokemon curls up in a balls and fluies at the grunt's legs.

[Morty]

[The Chase From Limit Street]

Well, as Dragan has not been mentioned climbing over the fence, he must be circling outside the fence. Out there he will find nothing. No sign of the fugitive.

As he circles the property he gets a view of all angles of the house etc. but as the shadows around the house, shed and garage are inside the six foot tall fence he won't really be able to shine is light all the way into those dark spots. Here and there something glints or glistens like black feathers would or looks like a couching figure, but the glints could just be reflections in windows, the glistens could be damp spots from the snowmelt during the day, the various humps and bumps could be bushes, or trash cans, or any number of ordinary things.

He will have to move closer to find her.

If she exited over that fence, they'd see her. So the pair know for sure she is somewhere in that yard.

Well, they're quite cool with that; they've got her penned up in a relatively small area and they'll see her if she tries to escape. Dragan takes this opportunity to shout: You're surrounded and you can't escape! Come out! He doesn't expect her to listen, but it's worth a try. After issuing a cry, he will hop over the fence and immediately begin to look around, shining his flashlight everywhere.
Anatolij keeps waiting for Dragan to flush the fugitive out. Then he'll catch her.

[FireFox]

[Rooftop]

"I feel fine. Much better than fine, now," Ashley dreamily says as she tries to run her fingers through Ally's hair.

The mage successfully runs her fingers through the thief's crimson hair. Great. That's really great. I'm glad you feel... that way... ...Ack, that sounded really dumb.

[Devixer]

[Rooftop]

Ashley lets out a quiet, but mirthful giggle at that. "I might be just a little biased in this, but I don't think that sounded dumb at all."

[FireFox]

[Rooftop]

My tongue is tied up in a big knot. Not a kinky knot, but the kind of knot that is not tied without a bunch of kinks. ... A complicated, unfun knot, I mean. Not a knot that... You get the point. Ally blushes, but smirks as she takes her embarrassed rambling and turns it into a moderately clever piece of wordplay.

[Devixer]

[Rooftop]

Ashley smiles as well. "Yeah, I think I got it." She tries to move her hand to cup Ally's cheek, and says, "You sound really cute when you're rambling like that."

[FireFox]

[Rooftop]

Ally blushes even more and completely shuts up. She can't even think of a single wisecrack to make about that.

[Devixer]

[Rooftop]

"Aw, what's the matter? Am I getting too mushy?" Ashley asks, in an entirely joking manner. The smile she has softens a little as she shifts in order to be more comfortable.

[Ashen Lilies]

[PokeCenter]

PokeTheft tends to get Caela's attention pretty theft.
"Hey! What do you think you're doing?" She cries, unclipping a pokeball from her belt, her voice suddenly sharp and directed.
"Release that Pokemon at once!" She commands, mustering all the authority available to her. Which is... quite a lot, actually.

Assuming that her authority has no effect on the Team Rocket member, (or the rolling Phanpy, for that matter), the Skarmory which is now blocking the exit might.
"Skaaaaar..." It croaks, stepping forward and rattling its steely feathers ominously in a manner that sounds like innumerable swords clashing together.

[FireFox]

[Rooftops]

No... You're, uh, just the right amount of mushy. Ally smiles and tries to snuggle closer.

[Devixer]

[Rooftop]

Ally is of course allowed to get closer. In response, Ashley unclasps her cloak, and tries to lay it over the both of them.

"Well, that's good, then. I'd hate to start sounding like some trashy novel," she says.

[FireFox]

[Rooftop]

Oh, haha, I know exactly the kind of books you mean. She's kind of fairly well-read, for a street rat. Not exactly fine literature, but some would be surprised she can read at all. You're much better than any fictional princess, beautiful savage, or priestess of Lunaria, Ash.

[Devixer]

[Rooftop]

"I was about to same the same about you, Ally." Ashley closes her eyes for just a second, and sighs. "This feels like a dream right now."

[FireFox]

[Rooftop]

It does? My dreams are full of the weirdest crap that seems perfectly normal at the time, but then I wake up and it's like, 'what the heck did I just do?'... And that's not counting the dreams where I think the Gods are talking to me, but I can never remember what they say. Ally frowns, but leans in to kiss the mage's cheek.

[Devixer]

[Rooftop]

Ashley frowns a little as well. "I guess I'm just saying that. I mean, a couple years ago, if someone told me I'd meet and fall for you, I'd laugh them off. Actually being in a relationship was just a dream to me once."